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We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed alt-rock band extraordinaire Molly Karloff; greetings and salutations, gang! Before we dive into the Q&A musical crypt, can each of you say ‘hi’ and introduce yourselves to our ever-inquisitive readers?
Jowie: Hello there! I’m Jowie, Rock Pixie, Jedi, Glam Clown, and Drummer in Molly Karloff. I’m the one at the back hittin’ stuff, twirlin’ stuff and generally looking like I’m defending myself from a swarm of wasps.
Simon: Hi, I’m Simon. I generally stand at the front of the stage making noises into the microphone and simultaneously strumming strings and things. They call me the front man because of this, but I don’t know who ‘they’ are?
Sam: Hi, my name is Sam Fuller, I live in Derby and I’ve been playing bass for 11 years. I’ve been playing live for around eight years in various local and college bands. Before Molly Karloff I played in Venomous Rose and gigged alongside/opened for the likes of Crazy Lixx and Collateral. I enjoy just about anything that rocks or is exciting, and my favourite bands include Avenged Sevenfold, Black Sabbath, Bullet for my Valentine, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Megadeth, Metallica, Nirvana, Skid Row, Slipknot, South of Salem, Stop Stop and WASP!
Simon: I’m not telling you where I live! Haha!
Major congrats and kudos on the upcoming May 19 release of both the single and video for your wonderful new tune You Don’t Know My Name! Simon, what was the genesis of one of the best pieces of music that we’ve heard ‘round these parts in eons?
Simon: It was born at the genesis of all eons before any eons existed and hence has become the best of the eons. Otherwise translated as popping into my head in the shower one morning, where lots of embryonic ideas are nurtured out of the steamy wetness and into audible form where others can partake. That’s about as enigmatic as it gets: the shit in my head, not to be confused with the shit on my head! Haha!
Sam, in your opinion, what differentiates You Don’t Know My Name from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music landscape?
Sam: I’ve noticed in recent years there’s a lot of bands who have gone back to the classic rock sound in the last few years. That’s awesome because bands like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Slade were all hugely influential in the 70s, but we decided to buck the trend and follow our own sound. We down-tuned seven semi-tones, decided to try layering lots of vocal tracks and harmonies and found a sound unlike a band I’ve ever heard in recent years.
Jowie: Yeah, I think our range of influences is pretty broad too! We’re not trying to be a grunge band or a hair band or a metal band or a stoner band.. we’re just making the music we wanna listen to, and if that ends up like Ginger Fish drumming for EVH or Cornell singing over pots n pans… if it makes our heads nod and our knees bend, it’s rock n roll, and with a bit of luck that’ll resonate with a lot of people.
Jowie, who was your producer on You Don’t Know My Name and what did the collaboration between artist and producer look like in the studio?
Jowie: Well actually.. I got all my drums down in the first day before Exeter arrived! So I was back at work while Simon was guitar battling with him and drinking a thousand cups of tea. You’d better ask Simon about that one!
Simon: Ha! I’ve said it before, and he won’t mind me repeating it, but Mike is a bastard to work for. I say ‘for’ because he’s a slave driver. Annoyingly, everything he wanted us to change or alter ended up being right, but that’s not how it felt at the time. I was literally rewriting guitar parts including guitar solos right there and then in front of him, with comments like ‘you can do better than that’ being the response. Looking back, he was right, and he always had the ability to notice when he’d pushed you right to the edge, to the point where you felt like smashing up the guitar, and then he’d announce that it was time for a cup of tea, prompting a mass exodus from the control room down to the kitchen.
Overall, it was a good collaboration, I think. We’d work with him again, but get him involved much earlier in the process, before we ever go anywhere near the recording studio. We’ve learnt a lot from the process, and that even though you think you’re prepared and know how it’s gonna pan out in the studio, you realise there’s another level you can go to. Mike was instrumental in pushing us to raise the bar and is definitely an integral part of the album.
Sam, how is You Don’t Know My Name similar to some of the past music in your oeuvre such as She Said? How is it different?
Sam: This isn’t the first time we’ve tuned this low or stacked a significant layer of vocal tracks and harmonies. Tracks like Supernaturalation and She Said each have various elements and qualities similar to You Don’t Know My Name. For me personally, She Said and You Don’t Know My Name both make me think of bands like Deftones and Muse every time I hear or play them.
Simon: That’s two more bands to throw into the ‘soundalike’ mix! Haha! I guess the common theme in all our songs is the big guitar riffs. It’s kind of how every song begins life, with a sing-along chorus thrown in for good measure.
Jowie: They’re both BIG! MK songs are pretty much always super pumped, the kind of music you’d put on in a space battle or to fight a giant to. We’ve got one or two gentler songs kicking around that haven’t made the studio, but with Molly, you know you’re in for some pretty badass rock n roll. For me what makes this track and the whole album different from the previous 2 EPs is that it’s the first I’ve have some creative input on, the drum grooves are my own rather than learning what the last guy did. It’s still undoubtedly MK, but with a little extra glam rock weirdo thrown into the mix.
Simon: Haha! I was trying to think what the biggest difference is, and maybe that’s it; the glam rock weirdo!
Jowie, the music video for You Don’t Know My Name is nothing short of a showstopper! Did you and the other fellows in the band have a complete final creative say on how the music video looked?
Jowie: We were working with Charlie, a GREAT videographer from MindArt Media. We love his work and had no doubt that whatever he came up with would look super slick and pro. The concept of the masks came about from the idea of the Venetian masquerade festival where everyone’s anonymous and free, rich and poor are equal, it doesn’t matter who you’ve been, only who you are in that moment, so it fits with “you don’t know my name” in that sense of only seeing the surface of someone. I made all those masks ages ago, so when this idea came up it was like YES! I’ve got this!!
Jowie, on the heels of the May 19 release of You Don’t Know My Name, can fans look forward to an EP or debut LP release from you before the end of the year?
Jowie: Simon, you take this one.
Simon: They most certainly can! There is a full 10 track album due for release on 6th October, with another couple of singles being released along the way. So keep an eye out for new tracks being dropped as we get closer. We’re actually only releasing the album in full on CD or Vinyl or download. On the streaming platforms, the album won’t be fully available for another seven months. The plan is to drop one track from the album every month onto the streaming platforms, until the whole album is available. If you like what you hear and wanna hear the whole album before then, you can buy it as a download, or on CD/Vinyl.
Simon, what does your performing/touring dance card look like in the wake of the release of You Don’t Know My Name?
Simon: We’ve got a couple of festivals coming up soon, HRH and DesTINAtion which is a tribute to a great friend of the band who sadly passed away not long ago, TigerTailz are headlining that one so I’m pretty excited. After that we’ll be kicking off a UK tour once the albums out and really looking forward to catching up with fans and seeing some great towns and hopefully introducing a lot of new people to our music.
A question for all of you: Who inspires you musically?
Jowie: Anything and everything really! Mental health is a pretty common thread through Simon’s lyrics. Musically.. there’s only two kinds of music; music you like, and music you don’t. I listen to Rock obviously, but I love Motown, classical, funk, whatever! So influences come from all over the shop. For me, greatest of all time.. Rachel Stamp, Queen Adreena, Bowie, Prince, Stevie Wonder.. too many to list.
Simon: I kind of agree with that. We’re not trying to go for any particular kind of sound, it’s just what comes out is either good or it’s not. I guess because it’s an even mix of the same kind of elements, we end up with the Molly Karloff sound, but that’s good, right? I do have a penchant for the whole 90s grunge scene, with Soundgarden and Alice In Chains being particular favourites, but otherwise anything I’ve ever listened to is an influence and an inspiration.
Sam: When I think of Molly Karloff’s discography, I think of a broad spectrum of bands, including the likes of: Alice in Chains, Black Label Society, Black Sabbath, Deftones, Firehouse, Marilyn Manson, Megadeth, Muse, Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, Royal Blood, Skid Row, Slayer, Soundgarden, Testament… the list goes on…
Personally, musicians like Dave Ellefson from Megadeth, Duff McKagen from Guns N Roses, Ian Hill from Judas Priest, John Deacon from Queen, Krist Novoselic from Nirvana, Nick Oliveri from Queens of the Stone Age, Paul McCartney, Steve Harris from Iron Maiden and Tom Araya from Slayer have all been influential on how I play in combining melody and style with speed and/or aggression. That said, there are so many bands that influence me as an individual and us as a band, even subconsciously.
Simon, Molly Karloff is based out of Oxford. How do those roots inform the sound of the band?
Oxfords a pretty diverse town musically. You could go to one gig and have a smouldering singer songwriter open the show, a 12-year-old techno genius with a laptop, a band of 15 hipsters playing medieval instruments then a Metal band to headline! It’s pretty incestuous too! Everyone’s been in and out of all sorts of bands and picked up a few tricks along the way. There’s some great Hard Rock and Metal about too, we hangout with bands like Desert Storm and Grand Mal who are making some amazing music.
Jowie, what does the creative process look like when Molly Karloff gathers together? Does everyone throw in their own ideas and the like for the latest single or album release?
Simon’s well and truly the mastermind behind the music, he’ll either come into the studio with like 3 albums worth of songs, or just like stumble across a killer riff while we’re tuning up or whatever, but then once he’s brought it to the table we all write our own parts, chop it about a bit, “that chorus is too long” or “no that’s already a Dolly Parton song, change that bit..” so we end up with something we’ve all had creative freedom over. They’re Simon’s babies and we respect that, we just dress them in funny clothes.
Simon, at the end of the day what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving copious spins to You Don’t Know My Name?
Simon: It’s gotta be tinnitus!
Jowie: Yep. Tinnitus.
Sam: I hope it inspires them to come and check out our live show. We’re always working on ways to make our performances more exciting and memorable for everyone who comes to see us. To me, music helps people bond and find likeminded individuals in a way no other context or medium could provide. It can make life feel more beautiful and it can be so empowering in a way nothing else ever could be. Also, tinnitus!
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